Skyward Sword’s Game-Breaking Glitch

Loathe though I am to simply repost information from other gaming sites, revealing how to avoid a terminal bug in one the season’s biggest titles bears repeating. It turns out that, like Twilight Princess before it, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword includes a programming flaw that can make it impossible to complete the game. The good news is that it’s easy to avoid if you know how, and thanks to the good folks at Zelda Informer and Giant Bomb, we’ve got the full scoop inside.

According to Nintendo support rep Sharon Matheny:

We have been made aware of the issue that results in being unable to progress in the Song of the Hero quest. If the game has been saved after completing the sequence of events, it will no longer be possible to proceed through the game on that save file. The only options at that point are to either start the game over or to use an earlier save file to continue.

The situation is caused by performing the following sequence of events during the Song of the Hero quest:

1. At the beginning of the quest, go to Lanayru Desert to retrieve the song of the Thunder Dragon.

2. In the Lanayru Mine, speak with Golo the Goron.

3. Complete the Thunder Dragon’s event, and receive his song.

4. Before heading to the forest or volcano regions, speak with Golo in the mine again.

5. At this point, the forest and volcano events will no longer occur, making it impossible to continue.

Solutions:

• This issue WILL NOT OCCUR if the Fire and Water Dragon songs have already been collected before collecting the Thunder Dragon’s song. Talking to Golo in the Lanayru Caves will also NOT trigger this issue.

Big thanks to Dathen Boccabella and Patrick Klepek for bringing this story to light!